A moonshine pic that seems
like a folk ballad. It's based
on the 1968 novel An Exile
by Madison Jones, it's written by Alvin Sargent. It
got its title based on the
1956 hit song by Johnny Cash, as its original title was September Country; Cash sings five songs, one of which, "Flesh and Blood," became number one on the
country charts. The other songs include "I Walk the
Line," "This Side of the Law," "Hungry," and "Cause I Love You." John Frankenheimer ("Birdman
of Alctraz"/"Grand Prix"/"Seven Days in May") ably directs the crime drama set in the
back hills of Tennessee, that has Gregory Peck cast out of type as
the weakling married sheriff who becomes corrupted after falling for a
Lolita-like teenager whose pa is the local moonshiner. The public
didn't want to see such a flawed Peck character and the pic died at the
box office.

Middle-aged
sheriff in the small town of Sutton, Tennessee, Henry
Tawes (Gregory Peck), follows a pickup truck on a back road
that has a child named Buddy McCain (Freddie
McCloud) behind the wheel, who
escapes by fleeing across the field. Sexy teenager Alma (Tuesday Weld, in real-life age 27) stays in the truck and takes the rap for
her younger brother. Sheriff Tawes lets her off with a warning not to
drive again without a license.

Later Alma comes to town and
seduces the sheriff, who is locked into a loveless marriage with his
wife Ellen (Estelle Parsons). The disenchanted, brooding lawman dwells
in his humble ranch with his wife, young child and his elderly
father-in-law (J.C. Evans, the real-life 82-year-old father
of the director's wife). The
sheriff begins a hot affair with the teen and offers her pa (Ralph Meeker) protection to run his still with his
oldest son Clay (Jeff Dalton). But things change when Federal agent
Bascomb (Lonny
Chapman) arrives in town and aims to round-up all
the local moonshiners. The redneck lust-driven deputy (Charles Durning) catches on to
his boss's affair and pines for a piece of the action. The deputy also
discovers the still and is killed by the moonshiner.

The
sheriff's personal life and career come crashing down, as he can't give
up his jail bait girlfriend seductress and learns the hard way the
moonshine family was only using him.

The moody film to its credit
is well-acted and captured the behavior of the Southern mountain
people: depicting them as weather-beaten
locals, people with no hope, who mark time by sitting on their porches and vacantly staring out at the passing
cars. As a sad melodrama of a man losing everything because of his weak
character, it's much like a Cash ballad and works fine; but as a Greek
tragedy, something it aimed for, it never rises to the level of
mythology.